Vicki Family Story

"Would you like something to drink? I could make you an iced mocha," Vicki Olson sweetly suggests from her dining room seat. If the world is split into givers and takers, then Vicki is most certainly a giver. She and her daughter, Alissa, have been longtime volunteers in the local community and schools. Alissa is deaf, which has inspired them to work with the Minnesota Association for the Hearing Impaired, spearheading a program for deaf teens.

Despite their giving spirit, what Vicki and Alissa need right now, is a few helping hands. Their house bears the same paint from the day Vicki moved in over 29 years ago, now peeling and chipping. They would like to repaint it themselves, but Vicki’s physical health cannot handle the 60 to 100-hour commitment it would require. A diabetic for 40 years, Vicki has survived both a heart attack and a stroke, and the neuropathy in her ankles prevents her from doing any prolonged standing activities. If that weren’t enough, her eyes sporadically hemorrhage, nearly destroying her depth perception.

For years Vicki has been trying to enlist outside help to get her house painted, and she recently decided to apply for A Brush with Kindness after seeing an ad in her church bulletin. During the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, Vicki will finally get the help she needs to paint her house. The volunteer crew that week will be rewarded with coffee and sandwiches from Polly’s Coffee Cove next door. The cozy little café has been very pro-active in revitalizing the Payne-Phalen neighborhood in East St. Paul—a mission passionately shared by Twin Cities Habitat.

"For a long time, I wanted out, Vicki admits. "But since this coffee shop has started all this community stuff…it’s encouraging. People want to stay."